Haptic Perception on the Plantar Surface for Vibrotactile Feedback Insoles

The plantar surface provides critical sensory feedback during standing, balancing, and locomotion, making it a promising area for haptic augmentation. While insoles offer a practical platform for integrating vibrotactile feedback into daily activities, insole-based haptic systems must be carefully designed to complement rather than interfere with the natural sensory processing. To inform such designs, we investigate spatial acuity and perceivability ratings across the plantar surface under varying load conditions. We use a 3D-printed vibrotactile insole with four linear resonant actuators (LRAs) and conduct a user study (n=6) investigating stimulus localization and perceivability in both sitting and standing postures. We ask the participants to localize the perceived vibrotactile stimuli on a foot contour and to rate the perceivability of the stimuli. Our results reveal significant differences in localization accuracy between anatomical regions, with average localization errors ranging from 8.44 ± 0.1 mm at the great toe to 35.4 ± 7.06 mm in the metatarsal region. In addition, we find that perceivability rating significantly decreased in the standing posture compared to the sitting posture, with an average reduction of 29%. These results provide guidelines for the optimal design and positioning of vibrotactile actuators in haptic insoles interfaces.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  World Haptics Conference

• Publication date

  2025-07-08

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1109/WHC64065.2025.11123284
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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